Euro 2012: Joachim Low tells England how to play like Germany

What we’ve done with the ­national team is our philosophy is embedded in the players, this is the type of football we want to play

Germany coach Joachim Low

Low’s men take on Italy in the Euro 2012 semi-finals tonight, ­having earned a reputation as crowd-pleasers, a far cry from their dour teams of the past.

Germany have bagged nine goals in four games – more than any other country – and won over more and more fans with their ­attacking style of play.

And their eccentric boss Low, who boldly reshuffled his entire forward line for the 4-2 last-eight win over Greece, reckoned it was not him alone who deserves credit for his side’s exciting new style.

He said a dramatic rethink had been carried out in Germany over the last decade.

Low said: “There are lots of ­people who are responsible.

“They’ve done a lot of work at the clubs in the youth development.

“They’re much better than 10 years ago, when it was all about conditioning and strength. Now it’s more technical.

“What we’ve done with the ­national team is our philosophy is embedded in the players, this is the type of football we want to play.

“We look for players who can fit into this culture and adapt.

“It’s a product here in Germany of many institutions – the DFB (German FA), the clubs and so on.”

Once the Germans would have been expected to grind out a win.

But Low insisted his men had to be bold to end their hoodoo of ­never beating Italy in a ­competitive match. That includes two World Cup semi-finals, the last on home soil in 2006 when he was Germany’s ­assistant boss.

Low added: “It’s a confidence thing. We want to show other ­nations that we are at the same level as them in the way we play football.

“We are a team that doesn’t have to react to our opponents.

“We play our own game, form our own way of playing, and a few years ago those were things we had to work on.”

Low, though, refused to put the boot in on the Three Lions, despite the way Roy Hodgson and his men bowed out to Italy in the last eight.

He said: “The English were much better in this tournament than in 2010.

“When they played us then, they were a team with a lot of ­problems.

“Hodgson has brought order into the side and has done a great job.

“England will develop under him in the next few years and in the next tournament, they’ll play a better role than they did here and certainly than they did in 2010.”